I was first introduced to Perelandra in the 1980s via another book written by Dorothy Maclean and her work at Findhorn: To Hear the Angels Sing. This peaked my curiosity about the devic kingdom. Not long after that I found Machaelle's Garden Workbook. Because I lived at 8500 feet in Estes Park, Colorado, on a small llama ranch, I had some challenges both in growing the Mediterranean herbs I like for healing and cooking, as well as dealing with nature in that mountain terrain. Thus, the idea of being able to talk directly to nature about how to develop an environment for growing my herbs at that altitude greatly appealed to me. I was also excited about being able to talk to the Head Deva of the packrat who kept stealing the knife I kept in the hay barn to cut the twine on the bales of hay.

I used Machaelle's processes and talked to the Deva of the Herbs, who told me to use raised beds. I was instructed to fill the beds with mulch soil that was reconstituted from leftover coffee grounds, eggshells and an assortment of vegetable matter from my kitchen. I placed the soil in railroad tie beds, keeping the soil level low, as instructed, so that there would be a wind barrier for the new herbs. The result was that I was able to grow lavender, rosemary, sage, oregano and thyme at 8500 feet, and that they thrived regardless of the snow, cold and short growing season. They were healthy, beautiful plants.

The packrat situation was resolved when I read about Dorothy Maclean's experience with rats in Findhorn, I learned that rats are indeed gentlemen. Backed up by Machaelle's excellent instructions on working with the Overlighting Deva, I contacted the "head" packrat and had a little chat about how we could negotiate a deal over the issue of my barn-knife. He explained that the little guy really liked the shiny knife I used, which is why he always moved it to the mouth of his hole in the barn. So, I asked if he would accept a different knife — one that was equally shiny — and allow me to keep mine, which was the best tool for my work. He agreed and I kept my word by delivering a shiny new knife to him that same day. My hay knife never went missing again, and I noticed my barn packrat friend eventually fitted the knife into the opening of his hole. We both lived in mutual harmony for the rest of the time that I owned the property.

Thanks to the work of Perelandra, my education about nature has given me a life-long friend who heals and manifests with great nurturing and accuracy.